Home > Work > The Quarterback (The Team, #2)
1 " It’s hard to live in this world, son,” the old man said. “Some days are harder than others. But they even out, in the end. Eventually. "
― Tal Bauer , The Quarterback (The Team, #2)
2 " Of course, Colton was one boy among dozens on each of his teams, and the only way to get attention was to stand out. Be goofy. Be good, damn good, at sports. Be anything except himself. People left when he was himself. "
3 " Now he was nothing but pieces, the same broken jigsaw puzzle he’d always been, kicked over and scattered by other people. Pieces lost. Pieces broken. Pieces thrown away. Didn’t you know this was how it was going to end? It always ends like this. People leave when you’re yourself. "
4 " Fuck, he’d opened himself all the way for Nick, given Nick everything he was. Showed him all the parts and pieces that made up his soul. He’d wanted Nick to know him like no one else ever had, not his mom, not Wes, not anyone. He’d wanted Nick to like him—no, to love him. To love what he saw when Colton showed him his carefully concealed heart, cradled in the palms of his hands. "
5 " What was better? Suffering in silence and hardening your heart against the world? Or owning what you wanted, what you needed? "
6 " Why did no one ever love him back? Why was it so easy for people to leave him? What was wrong with him that made everyone walk away, go back to their own lives, and leave him behind? "
7 " Stupid. You’re so stupid. How’d you fall for him? Stop wanting a man. That was like trying to hold his hands up to the sky and push falling raindrops back into soaked thunderheads. "
8 " Your hearts didn’t beat together. That’s the hardest damn thing about growing with someone: you gotta make sure you keep your hearts beating together and that you really know each other. It’s too damn easy to go spinning off on your own and leave each other behind. "
